Bloodtellers: Genesis
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: A long time ago, something happened on a different Mobius that caused their reality to see powerful, all consuming tears in the space-time continuum. Can the odd team of a reformed Infinite, 20 year old Silver, and the exceedingly volatile Saga set right what went wrong before their universe is erased? [slowburn canon/canon/oc][semi-Friday updates... hopefully][Read&Review]
1. Genesis: Part 1

He knew his sentence was coming to an end when his bliss filled imaginings mixed with the cruel reality of his imprisonment. For the past 100 years, Infinite had been placed in suspended animation and forced to view visions from an artificial Phantom Ruby for his crimes during the war. This Ruby gave him what he wanted to see -that taunt of seeing but never feeling- and despite knowing that it was all a ruse, the jackal more than often gave in. Not on his own volition, of course, it was because of a certain person he would see in those visions.

In one life, she was his second in command. In another life she didn't even know him yet. In this artificial life, she was whatever he wanted her to be- and despite how wonderful it sounded, it actually sucked. Some times, as the matrix started to lose its footing, he could see the real her. She was a bit taller now, well endowed, and no less nosy into matters that didn't belong to her. With her was that black and red hedgehog that couldn't age, chastising her to stay away from his containing unit or the punishment would be over early.

But they all wanted him to be let out, no one who had imprisoned him to begin with was no longer alive. So why did they have to wait anymore?

"Sh… dow..." he could hear from so far away and yet so close, "Can… hi… out…?"

"No… yet… sti… as… days..."

Sometimes there was even a third member to the grand show: a certain near-white bugzapper.

"Sa… lea… we…. omethi… portant..."

It would have been easier to overhear those conversations if the visions didn't interfere with them. Her visionary double always blocked him. She was still so young, but parts of her real self did leak through to change his general perception.

"You don't love me, you love what I can do for you." that apparition repeated intermittently when the time was the least convenient it could have been. Once, that had been her last words to him before subjecting him to fate. And the apparition was starting to get real repetitive with this mantra; guilt? What was that?

Then the day had finally come. He didn't know what to expect, really. The first thing he had noticed was that the visions were far clearer than what they had been in awhile- years maybe, or even a decade or two. There, all sitting around a rather decrepit table, were the instigators of his current state: the red echidna, the blue rat, Shadow, the silver bugzapper, and (most importantly) _her,_ the girl who walked between realities.

"Infinite," the red echidna declared, "From this day onward, your sentence is officially considered over."

The jackal raised a skeptic eyebrow. All this filigree for what? A short message on not going insane?

"Good luck out there buddy." the blue rat teased, giving him a thumbs up. "Not all of us are going to be living when you get back, so don't go missing us. Capiche?"

Infinite rolled his eyes in response. His ability to talk never really occurred to him- he didn't even take the time to consider if he could talk in this state. When he returned his attention to the table, he realized that it was no longer there and standing in front of him was just her.

"Protect her." the fake vision of her requested as it placed a hand on his cheek. Carefully, it pulled him in for a single, saddened kiss. "Protect her Infinite, and _wake_ _ **up**_."

That was when Infinite felt a sharp pain someone near his chest, and the feeling of falling out of something. For a dim moment, the vision of her crossed with the real her, concerned and hovering over him with two others beside her, and a small chuckle escaped his lips as he went unconscious.

. . .

"Shadow, are you okay?" Silver questioned, glancing the ageless hedgehog up and down in worry. He had all right to when the dark hedgehog had been kept away from general civilization for over a century.

"I'm fine." the older hedgehog shrugged off. "Saga told me about this."

"I told you that some things would be the same, but not everything." the light blue cat smirked while adjusting her side braid. "You look more frazzled than the time I showed you the Professor's holograph display watch."

"I am not _frazzled_." Shadow spat at her, saying the word like it disgusted him.

"Are to." Saga continued to tease as she tied her braid back up. Although the urge to argue with her was strong, Shadow instead opted to give her a warning growl and looked the other way. It amused Saga either regardless- she even took a moment to laugh at him.

That laughter was quickly brought to a stop with the appearance of the Professor. The older looking Mobian let out a rather quick exhale as he peeled off his surgery gloves. At the presence of the Professor, Saga and Silver stood at attention. Shadow, who did not know the Mobian, remained where he was.

"How is Infinite?" Silver asked first. The Professor seemed surprised at first to see the three Mobians just waiting there, but he recovered quickly enough.

"Fine, fine!" the Professor claimed. "He should be waking soon enough."

"Did you follow the instructions I gave you?" Shadow spoke up with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Of course! Such thorough notes. You did well to preserve them for this long Mr. Shadow!"

"Just Shadow is fine." the dark hedgehog grumbled.

"Of course, of course." the Professor declared with a handwave. To everyone else he said, "The mental dreaming capacity has been redirected to its proper cortex, which should allow Infinite to no longer see visions from the Phantom Ruby mirror. There might have been some residue left behind since had been attached to the mirror and its superior for quite a bit of time, but we may never see the effects; in other words, Infinite is just another Mobian in our funny little world."

"Are you absolutely sure that he's… normal? No powers to change our perceptions, no ability to float in air, no possible way that he could all back stab us from some magical spear created from supernatural energies?" Silver inquired, giving the Professor a rather hard look.

"As sure as I am that the world's round!" the older Mobian agreed with a firm nod of his head.

"You didn't wipe his memories or anything, did you?" Saga softly spoke up. At the idea, everyone seemed to give her different amounts of confusion.

"As seeing the process didn't need to go into his temporal lobe, I don't believe I did. Why?"

The feline gave a small raise and lower of her shoulder. "Just curious." she mumbled. "Don't have to act like it was a dumb question or anything."

The Professor was about to say something, but was interrupted mid-thought when a small beep came from his side. He then pulled out a small mobile device and accepted the call through.

"Professor," a digitized female voice spoke, "The subject has awakened. What would you like me to do?"

"Tell him that I will be arriving in five minutes. He should be docile enough to stay still for that long."

"Yes, Professor." the voice confirmed before letting out a beep, confirming that the line disconnected again.

"You three will be able to see Infinite soon." the Professor then informed everyone. "But do give him some time to be adjusted. I'm sure our technology will confuse him for a time."

"Oh, well he and Shadow would get along swimmingly then!" Saga quipped without skipping a beat. She didn't have to look behind her to know Shadow was casting her a deathly glare. The Professor didn't seem to notice this exchange before going to check on Infinite.

Shaking his head as if the Professor disturbed him, Silver brought attention to Shadow.

"Do you think Infinite learned anything from being imprisoned this entire time?"

Shadow closed his eyes in thought for a moment before opening them again, almost directly focusing on Saga for a moment before looking at Silver.

"I can't tell you what I don't know." he finally admitted. "I'm not a mind reader. However..."

"However?" Saga and Silver repeated with identical eyebrow raises. Shadow took his sweet time with answering them- leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyes once again closing as he mulled over those boring years.

"He used to struggle." the dark hedgehog mused. "Then one day he just… stopped. I could never find out why, but I can make a good guess. He saw something with those visions and that something made him obedient. 'Obedient' being transmutable, of course."

"Do you think he'll be able to sustain being 'obedient'?" inquired Silver.

"Dunno." Shadow shrugged. "The only way to know now is to watch him."

"And I'll trust you'll help with that?" Silver asked with a skeptic expression.

Shadow gave another shrug, along with a disgruntled sneer. "I've done it for this long." he informed them, "Why stop now?"


	2. Genesis: Part 2

The longer he was forced to lay here, the more annoyed and impatient Infinite became. The Professor (who had no other name, apparently?) had ran some generic tests and then told the jackal to remain where he was. There was a faint hint that it was due to some visitors who would take him 'home', but they sure were taking their sweet time getting here.

He must have drifted off at some point, because when he looked back at the end of the examination table, there sat a cream-colored rabbit boy making funny faces at the jackal's toes.

"Who the fu-" Infinite started to shout, quickly catching the rabbit's attention and even quicker had the rabbit on top of his chest.

"Hey, hey! Shut it up!" the rabbit demanded, placing a hand over Infinite's mouth, "I've replayed this moment, like, seven times already and you always shout at me. I'm giving up this time so you better shut it."

Moving the rabbit kid's hand off his mouth, Infinite growled, "Fine." Then in a tone that went a bit quieter he asked, "Who are you?"

The rabbit kid rolled his eyes, as if it were some burden to simply tell the jackal his name.

"Look," the kid retorted. "Someone will explain who I am later, but for now just know: I ain't normal."

"No kidding."

"Not like that." the rabbit kid huffed, raising his hand to smack Infinite on the shoulder. The jackal stopped him in time by taking a rather rough hold of his wrist.

"Hit me, and I'll break your wrist." he even warned. This sufficed in scaring the rabbit kid for now as he attempted to wiggle out of Infinite's grasp.

"Fine!" the kid agreed. "Just, like, lemme go? It's no fair your grip is so good for some dude that's been sleeping for a hundred years!"

"Sleep is an odd word for it." Infinite snorted, letting go of the kid.

"Well that's what _you_ called it." the kid claimed in return. "But that was at the fourth rewind; I should have stopped that time, you liked me more then."

Infinite cocked a cautious eyebrow at the rabbit kid. This kid kept talking about redoing time? Was that even possible? Did he even care to really know? But when the jackal was ready to ask the kid these questions, he was interrupted with someone asking,

"Saffron, what are you doing here?"

Even without seeing how had spoken, the rabbit kid shrunk in bitterness. The kid had said something (that sounded a bit like "Urg, Silver.") before he rolled his eyes in annoyance and hopped off the examination table.

"Doesn't matter." the kid grumbled as he made his leave. "You guys always ruin my interrogations."

Craning his neck a little to see who was at the door, Infinite noticed the silver-white fur of a certain hedgehog. The rabbit kid pushed his way through the taller Mobian without so much looking up.

"Maybe next time kid." Silver playfully offered, tussling up the rabbit's hair as he walked by. Saffron growled but said nothing else, leaving Silver to enter the room. Directly behind him was a female Mobian cat whose hair was tied in a french braid- the braid started out blue like the rest of her fur, but near the middle it changed to a light blonde color. In his bored musings, he would wonder if that blonde was some how natural or the cat took the time to dip dye her hair.

The two entered the room, each occupying a side of the examination table, and looked over at Infinite. An awkward silence filled the room soon enough, and no one was sure how to break it.

"Apparently Shadow had some things of yours that he wants to give back." Silver finally announced- scratching the back of his head and refusing to look at the jackal. "He and the Professor were looking over them while we got you to make sure they weren't, you know, a major threat or anything."

"Wonderful." the jackal calmly decided, figuring now was as good a time as any to start getting up. Getting off at the side Saga was, Infinite steadied himself on legs that weren't quite accustomed to standing again, the jackal looked the cat in the eye and gave her a teasing smirk.

"So my puss," he even gloated, "How long has it been?"

This time, it was the cat's turn to sheepishly scratch the back of her neck and look to the floor. "A month or so..." she admitted. But her attitude soon changed as she gave him a particularly horrifying glare. "And I'm still mad at you! So don't you even _dare_ touch me, you freaking moron."

"Not even if I apologize right here and now?" Infinite smirked, moving closer to her.

"Not when the Professor is waiting for us." Silver interrupted, sounding rather impatient and annoyed.

"Right." Saga immediately agreed. "Men leave first."

"Such a feminist." teased Infinite before making his way to the door.

"Not when it's an act of defense." the cat mumbled under her breath, leaving Silver to lead Infinite out of the room and into the hall. She followed behind not long after and the three of them started their way to the Professor's main lab. The silence between them was still deafening, so Infinite made due with idle talk;

"So," he sighed, "Who was that kid that happened to be in my room? Not yours, I assume?"

"Saffron is another kid the Professor found." Silver informed him, not so much giving the jackal any form of eye contact or real acknowledgment. "He can go back in time like Saga and I can, but only by the previous 10 or so minutes. We, mostly I, can feel when he does it. Apparently, he's been avoiding us for as long as he possibly could."

"How old is he?"

"Seven and a half, but he's been avoiding us since he turned six."

"And _where_ are his parents?"

"We don't _have_ parents." the soft, dark tone of Saga's voice spoke up. "That's how the Professor was able to find us; no one else wanted us."

"Saga, you know that isn't true." Silver gently reminded her. The cat didn't answer, instead walking a little bit further behind now. Infinite was not blind to this, but had no time to question it, so instead he brought Silver's attention back by asking,

"So, what else happened during my sentence? Any other war criminals running around? How did that cracked egg finally pop off?"

The change in conversation was quickly accepted by Silver, who then went on the explain certain things- along with the occasional 'it's pretty much the same, but there's more holograms.'

. . .

"Good, good! You're finally here!" the Professor happily declared when the three entered the lab. "Infinite my boy, you have to see these artifacts Shadow has kept!"

Giving a rather skeptic raise of his eyebrow, Infinite moved closer to the table the Professor was gesturing to. Once he realized what laid there, his blood ran cold. His eyes darted to the black and red hedgehog with scorn.

"How long have you had these?!" the jackal demanded, moving toward the hedgehog now with intent to maul. Shadow remained unmoving despite the annoyed jackal being but a finger away from his face.

"Long enough." he even said, shrugging it off. He then looked up to meet the jackal in the eye before adding, "Not that you needed them in purgatory."

The jackal growled in reply, but said nothing further to Shadow before going back to the table. Without asking for permission, Infinite picked up on of the two objects and turned around to show it to the others. In his hands he held a thin, red sword with blue jeweled accents on the guard and grip: it was just as lightweight as he remembered it being, and after a few test swings he found that its swiftness hadn't deterred either.

"This was my sword before _he_ came along." the jackal explained to the rest, casting Shadow an accusatory side glare. He then angled the sword better so the others could see.

"It's pretty rusty." Saga noted with a tilt of her head.

"That's not rust." Infinite grumbled as he looked over the sword, sure enough finding patches of something dark red on the blade. "Far from it, my puss. This sword was made from a special alloy originating from space; it couldn't rust even if I wanted it to."

"Fascinating!" the Professor marveled. "I knew there was something off about that sword, but knowing that it was made out of Zeronium makes much more sense!"

"It does?" Shadow questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, of course!" the Professor blissfully agreed. "You see, Zeronium originates from the same matter as the Black Comet- its shards were scattered across our world when it last appeared but no one had been able to find a single fragment!"

"Someone did." Shadow darkly noted. "Or else that sword wouldn't exist."

"Oh yes, but perhaps another mystery for another time?" the Professor chuckled. Shadow grimaced but said nothing further. Using this as a clue to reveal the other object of importance, Infinite gently placed the sword on the table and picked up something that made nearly everyone in the room shiver.

Now it was Silver's turn to give Shadow a questionable glare before asking, "Why on earth did you keep that?" and the answer once again was another callous shrug.

Infinite didn't seem to notice either of them as he traced the details of the face mask. Even without seeing it after all this time, he knew how much of a symbol it had become at the time- a symbol the represented terror and deadly illusions. Curious, the jackal placed the mask over his face once more. Taking in a deep breath he could sense that it was once buried in the earth somewhere, but the main scent was not lost.

 _Now you are an interesting guy, I like you._

With a surprised gasp, Infinite quickly removed the mask and placed it on the table again. Time had preserved many things in that mask, including Phantom Ruby residue.

"Are you alright?"

Infinite wildly turned around to see Saga standing next to him. Her inquisitive little expression masked a lesser concern for him; Infinite gave a smirk in return- she still cared about him no matter what she said. Perfect.

"There's a little Phantom Ruby reside left behind in the mask." he explained to her. "It's nothing I couldn't handle, my puss."

"Professor," Silver suddenly spoke up, "Are we allowed to see Infinite out?"

"What?" the Professor questioned, still entranced by Infinite's sword. "Oh yes, yes. You may take him home now. From this day forward, Infinite the Jackal is a free man."


	3. Genesis: Part 3

'Home' was a rather objective term for what Saga and Silver resided in. Turns out, the Professor's laboratory was once a military compound- there was a main hall in the center of the complex and some dorm areas off to the right. The second dorm complex was were Silver and Saga lived, and was now the place Infinite was going to stay as well.

"Your room is on the lower floor." Silver informed the jackal, Saga slipping by to go up the stairs to her room. Silver didn't seem to notice as he went on, "We usually keep the doors closed no matter if we're in or out of them, I suggest you do the same. There is also a curfew- for Saffron it's around 10 PM. For us older folks, it's a bit closer to 3 AM."

"So you _are_ dangers to society?" Infinite smirked. "I just thought the idea was only our favorite pussy cat being cynical again."

"No..." Silver impatiently answered. "The Professor would like it more if we were all in the same place. Curfews help him know where we are in case something happens. Our powers -especially Saga and Saffron's- can be unpredictable."

"So you're dangers to society."

Silver let out a frustrated groan as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That's not..." the hedgehog started to say but didn't finish, finding that arguing about it wasn't going to get them anywhere. After recomposing himself, Silver turned to Infinite to say, "Follow me. Your room isn't that far from the foyer."

Snickering just slightly, Infinite did as he was told and followed Silver to a room to the right of the kitchen area. Silver allowed Infinite to go first to get a better view of the room, allowing the hedgehog to close the door behind them.

"Your room has access to a bathroom," Silver then informed him, "It's through the archway on the right. The other bathroom is also downstairs, but instead of going right when you enter the kitchen, you make a left. I suggest you keep your bathroom the way it is, no one is allowed to have a torture dungeon for any reason."

Infinite looked at Silver with a teasing raise of his eyebrow. "I don't torture people." he claimed with a chuckle. Before Silver could react, Infinite rammed him onto the door- their noses just a hair away from each other. "I hold people captive." he then finished, giving the hedgehog a rather naughty smirk. "That's how I get to know them _intimately_."

"No thank you." the hedgehog disagreed with a shake of his head, forcibly moving the jackal aside. Infinite just snickered as he complied, getting off of the hedgehog and allowing him to regain his composure once more.

This was fun, he'd have to make sure to do it more often.

"I'll let you know when dinner is ready." Silver finally said as he opened the door.

"You know," Infinite decided just as Silver left completely, "We _could_ share."

The jackal was not given an answer before the door softly shut behind Silver. Completely satisfied with how the discussion went, Infinite chuckled to himself once more as he looked up at the ceiling. He wondered how his favorite puss was doing. For her, their last meeting was only a few months prior, but for him, it had been much, much longer.

Upstairs, Saga kept her mind off of their new housemate by staring at herself in her mirror, fiddling with her side braid.

"Screw it," she finally cursed, giving up on the endeavor, "I need coffee."

She didn't go far as she soon realized that Saffron was sitting on her bed. Scared for a moment, the cat then put on a more angered expression.

"What you are doing here?" she demanded- always annoyed that he could appear and disappear where ever due to his looping abilities.

"Recon." the rabbit kid claimed, kicking his feet up into the air. "No one wants to talk to me and you kinda do. But even then, one time you threw me out the window."

"Did you ask me something personal?" Saga asked, folding her arms.

"I guess…?" the kid shrugged. "Something about Infinite's old team, I guess?"

Knowing this, Saga raised an eyebrow as well. "Did you break a bone?"

"No. I looped before I hit the ground."

"Bummer." the cat teased, choosing to sit down next to the rabbit kid. "So what's your recon?"

For a little while, Saffron was silent as he chose his words carefully. He looked over to Saga when he asked, "Do you think we can trust Shadow?"

Saga recoiled. Of all the questions she thought he would ask, Shadow wasn't the one she would have thought scared Saffron. She even questioned out loud, "Shadow? Why him?"

"I don't know." Saffron admitted. "There's just something about him. I think it's those bracers he has- they've got to be hiding _something_."

Now Saga cocked an eyebrow. Before she could say anything, a sudden wave of dizziness hit the both of them. It hit them with enough force that it almost felt like something had forcefully dunked them in water and back out again.

"Did you feel that?" Saffron asked, looking over at Saga. He found that the cat looked like she was going to get sick- her face and gone pale and her hands covered her stomach. Seeing her look that bad gave the kid sympathy pains. "Are you…?"

"I'm going to hurl." the cat told him. "Help… help me up, please? We need to see the -urg…!- we need to see the Professor."

Giving a firm nod, the rabbit kid hopped out of the bed and helped Saga to her feet. Carefully working together, the two were able to make it out of Saga's room and halfway down the stairs before Silver started to barrel upstairs.

"Did you feel that?" he asked Saga before realizing that Saffron was with her. He opened his mouth to say something, but threw his arms up like he didn't want to know. Instead he said, "I'll help Saga." and he worked with Saffron to switch Saga's Mobian crutch with his telekinesis. The three of them then finished the descent down the stairs- Infinite was at the bottom, not entirely sure what was going on now.

"I could take her for you." the jackal told the hedgehog as Silver and Saga passed him.

"I've got it." Silver grumbled without so much looking at Infinite.

. . .

"Hmm..." the Professor hummed to himself as he looked over his data. "Interesting..."

The Professor had yet to tell anyone why they had felt a rush of dizziness -something Silver, Saga, and Saffron recognized as a sign that the timeline had been screwed up somewhere- so they all hanged out his lab. Saga's stomach had calmed down with a cup of coffee and she sat quite indignantly in a desk chair, Silver sat in another desk chair beside her just in case, Saffron was idly typing on a computer near the Professor, while Shadow and Infinite remained out of the way by occupying the same wall. The jackal in particular looked around the room and took note of everyone's reaction to whatever this situation was; he got the hint it wasn't the first time this had happened, but it had never happened to this degree.

"Got it!" the Professor suddenly declared, surprising everyone to some degree.

"What happened?" Silver spoke up.

"See for yourself!" the Professor claimed, quickly typing a few commands into his keyboard before a large computer monitor in the front of the room lit up and gave everyone an idea of what they were looking at. On the monitor was a black hole-like object and a world map with several locations marked- to the side were more technical notes that only the Professor truly knew about, but the general idea was still present to the rest of them.

"As you can see by the projection," the Professor explained, "Several holes in the fabric of space and time have appeared in various locations around the globe. Most of these were merely negligible before (such as the ones discovered by Silver and those Saga were prone to falling into), but for some reason these portals are actually causing distortions in our current reality, while not completely overriding them either. The origin of these portals were not an original part of our universe, but another altogether! But due to this, their true source can not be accurately traced at the current time."

"Which means…?" Silver asked again.

"It means that someone (or something) from another dimension caused these portals to appear in ours- however, ours have the very probable possibility to overwhelm our universe and override it with whatever the portal's original dimension held."

"Which _means_ …?" Saga repeated, not at all liking where this was going and really wishing the Professor would just get to the point.

"Well, I suppose it would mean that -if one of these portals are not closed fast enough- then our universe would cease to exist."

Hearing this, everyone went silent. It was the small voice of Saffron who asked, "What are we going to do?"

"Don't you have someone that can manipulate tears like that?" Shadow spoke up, all but causing them to look at Saga. Almost immediately, the cat took notice and immediately waved her hands in disgust.

"Oh no, I'm not going out there alone!" the cat screeched. "Yeah, sure, I don't shift unconsciously as much anymore- but that doesn't mean I can open and close tears in the fabric of space and time itself! How do you know I didn't cause these tears to begin with? What if I never had control over my powers?!"

"Saga, calm down." Silver gently offered. "That isn't the case- you heard the Professor, the tears were caused by something outside our dimension."

"And they're here because I can create tears too." the cat hissed right back.

"No my dear, that is not at all how..." the Professor started to debunk before getting an idea. "But… we can use the data gathered from your past shifts to better pinpoint which tears we need to evaluate first! Ha! I love it!"

Saga cast Silver a rather dirty glare as the Professor went to work typing commands into his computer. It didn't take him long before he turned back around to the others.

"We need a team!" the Professor decided. "Yes, yes! A small group that can go out whenever a portal gets too out of control; at least one to close the portal itself and at least one other to make sure that they are safe! Oh yes, yes, this is a good idea!"

"Don't we have to, like, find a tear first Prof?" Saffron teased.

"What? Oh yes, I'm working on that now! I'll let you know when I locate the nearest tear. Oh this is so exciting! What an adventure!"

Saga and Silver exchanged a less than enthused glance, while Infinite raised an eyebrow at them. If he was going to take the time to better himself, why not start with a little community service? Shadow watched Infinite with a snide sneer; the jackal had a way to go before getting anyone's trust but this may be the first test on what he learned during his imprisonment.

Maybe.

Shadow didn't place his trust lightly, and Infinite had a long way to go to earn it.


	4. The Hill is Always Greener

Saga would never pretend to know what the Professor did to find the tears. Waiting for him to find the closest to them proved to be nerve racking on her, nonetheless, and so she prepared her fourth cup of coffee for the day. Just the smell alone could calm her; she would take a deep breath in and just let the warmth overtake her senses.

"You always liked your coffee black." a teasing voice whispered in her ear. Immediately entering fight mode, Saga whirled her fist around to smack her surpriser, but they had stopped her just inches away from their face. Seeing who it was proper, Saga growled.

"You should have let me hit you, Infinite." she spat.

"I don't want to fight you." the jackal claimed, letting go of her fist. "I want to apologize."

"Like I said," Saga huffed as she picked up her coffee cup. "You should have let me hit you."

"Saga, for once, just bear with me on this." he informed her. "I know I have a long way to go to earn anyone's trust. I want to start with you."

The cat wisely chose not to answer this, instead raising an eyebrow while taking a very long sip of coffee. Infinite took this as a sign to continue.

"Saga, what happened between us may have been just a month ago for you, but for me it's been years. A war happened for Chaos's sake!"

"And what side were you on?" the cat questioned, taking another -purposeful- sip. But that inspired Infinite to do something he had never done before- he took Saga by the hand with both of his and looked her dead in the eyes.

"My puss, for once in your stubborn life, cut the snark and let me talk to you." he even said to her with a determined expression. "I need you in my life now more than I ever did back with the Jackal Squad. There are things I can never take back because of some innate fear of losing what's important, but strength wasn't as important as keeping those who matter the most."

"Nice greeting card pitch."

"Saga, please," Infinite begged, getting down to his knees, "I had to sit through a vision -a different lifetime- where I had to watch my Squad die all over again, with you taken as a trophy. And by the time I found you, you were already… already gone… Already… _defiled_."

This made Saga reclaim her hand and move several paces away from Infinite; the jackal remained where he was on the ground, knowing that it was not his place to stand yet.

"We both know how dangerous you can be if your powers get out of hand." he still continued. "And we both know that I can help you channel them. I couldn't save my squad, but I can help you. Let me help you Saga, please. Let it be the first stepping stone for us to be equals again."

The cat remained where she was, unsure of how to react or respond. Her mouth opened, but a strangling sound came out instead of words; eventually she was able to get out an "Infinite… I..." before trailing off again.

"I need to go." Saga finally admitted, quickly getting away from there and back to the Professor's lab. On her way out, she just barely ran into Shadow. She gave him a mumbled apology without thinking about how long he had been standing there. Shadow gave her a small raise of his eyebrow, then turned to Infinite and looked on with interest; so the jackal wasn't afraid to beg now? Interesting. It could have been a one off show and it might not happen again, but it was still interesting.

Taking his musings with him, Shadow also returned to the Professor's lab. When he entered, he took a look up on the main monitor and grimaced at the information displayed- the Professor had narrowed most of the results down to the general area, but the tears were near unpredictable. And while he didn't understand much of this generation's technology, Shadow also understood that they needed better equipment to narrow these things down if they wanted to secure all of them. Taking claim of a corner, Shadow kept his eyes trained to the monitor as it continued to calculate the tear.

It was quite some time before he realized he knew where the tear was located. In a sense of disbelief, the hedgehog declared -surprising everyone in the room, including Infinite as he came back in-, "The tear is at Green Hill."

"Hmm?" the Professor responded, looking up at the monitor. "Oh my, you're right Shadow! The closest tear is located in Green Hill Zone. You few decide who goes to close it while I find a way to get you there!"

"I'll go." Silver immediately decided.

"But shouldn't Saga go?" Saffron just as quickly observed.

"I'm not going alone." huffed said cat in defiance.

"You won't be." Silver smiled, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'll be with you all the way."

Saga looked at her friend and eventually put on a small smile. "Promise to buy me expensive coffee after?"

"Of course." Silver smiled in return.

Meanwhile, Infinite looked on with some measure of disgust. He hadn't even noticed that Shadow was coming over to him, and nearly put himself into fight mode when the hedgehog said,

"Go with them."

The jackal looked at him and blinked.

"You're joking." he snorted. The glowering glare the hedgehog gave was unwavering, soon causing Infinite to curse, "Good Gaia, you're serious."

"If you want her to start believing that you'll help her, you need to show it." Shadow told him, his voice boarding ambiguity. "Everyone you had tortured is dead. No one knows what you've done in your past. Go prove that their punishment wasn't for nothing."

For awhile, Infinite wasn't sure how to react. Was this normal? Did something happen to _Shadow_ during Infinite's sentence too?

"What are you going to do?" the jackal finally asked. "Since you don't have to creepily stare at me anymore, and everyone _you_ know is dead too?"

To this, Shadow grimaced.

"I'll find something." he grumbled before leaving the lab.

. . .

Silver could never actually recall being in Green Hill during Sonic's time. He barely knew anything about his time's Green Hill, in retrospect. It was still a very beautiful destination, to be sure, with natural palm trees dotting the upper plains and a soft breeze pleasantly teasing the clear blue sea water to anyone on the hill. Every so often, there was even a weathered totem pole or two that needed someone to come by and show them some love once more.

"The last time I was here, Eggman had made a desert of the place." Infinite idly noted. "It's amazing how nature reclaims its property if given enough time."

No one had given him a reply as Silver was trying to make heads or tails out of the tracker the Professor had made, and Saga was looking increasingly ill with each step they took. Perhaps knowing that he wasn't going to get an answer, Infinite put a finger on the radio headset and called in to the Professor's lab.

"Is the signal still to our left?"

"Yeah." Saffron's confirmed from the other end. "You're real close to the signal, but you could do with moving more north, Nth Degree."

"Nth Degree?" Infinite repeated, sounding amused.

"If we're going to use radios, then we need nicknames." came the confident answer.

"Saffron, that's ridiculous." Silver rebutted into his headset.

"Aw, come on Bugzapper." Infinite teased right back, "Let Spitfire have his fun."

Silver was ready to talk back but was stopped when Saga let out a weak, "Guys..." and seemed to be pointing at something not far from them. The two redirected their attention to her and saw soon after what Saga was pointing at; there was the tear they were looking for, shimmering in the air like a ripple of water.

"So," Infinite spoke up with a click of his tongue, "Now what do we do?"

"Saga should be able to..." Silver started to say before looking at the cat. Saga was trembling now, staring at the tear in some sort of terrified trance; her tail happened to flick to the side and the tear responded by quivering slightly. There was no way that Silver would gain her attention without something happening to the tear as well, so with a sigh he said, "Maybe I could use my telekinesis instead."

Letting out a calm sigh to relax himself, Silver then made his way over to the tear. After getting himself to a close enough position, Silver raised his hands and allowed them to be enveloped in a light blue aura. The aura enclosed the tear as well with some concentration- now moving his hands to come closer together, the aura around the tear started to close too.

Suddenly, Saga snapped out of her trance to shout, "No, Silver, wait!" before the tear burst out of Silver's barrier and even wider than before. Thrown back by the reaction, Silver was put in a daze as something started to come out of the tear. Infinite was first to notice this and quickly ran to the hedgehog- getting him out of the way just as the thing coming out of the tear landed right where Silver had been.

The three of them all looked at the thing that came out of the tear. It looked like a white, half spherical carrier with a large checkered wrecking ball attached. The carrier started to lift itself into the air, allowing the wrecking ball to be suspended a meter off the ground. Sensing Saga first -as she was almost directly in front of it- the carrier made its way to the cat, swinging the wrecking ball with full intent to harm her. Neither of the boys was going to let that happen, Infinite just happened to be the first one to react.

With a bellowing cry, the jackal jumped up high and slashed the carrier from the back as the wrecking ball moved forward. The sword easily created a gash in the side of the carrier, the carrier itself paused in place as it calculated Infinite's placement. Before it could do anything, however, the carrier became enveloped in a light blue aura.

"I've had enough of this." Silver demanded, flinging one arm off to the side and causing the wrecking ball to disconnect. With a flick of his wrist, the wrecking ball was sent back into the tear. Taking the opportunity, Infinite gave himself a running start before leaping into the carrier's cockpit.

"Which button, which button?" Infinite gleefully said to himself as he raised his sword over the control panel. "How about… this one!" and with that, plunged his sword directly into the panel and then dragging it across. Withdrawing his sword, the jackal looked over the now mess of wires before finding himself pleased with the destruction and getting out of the cockpit.

"Toss it!" the jackal shouted to Silver. The hedgehog gave him an affirmative nod before tossing the carrier back through the tear as well. Silver then redirected his telekinesis to the tear again, this time he did not try to close it and instead looked at Saga.

"Saga, you need to close the tear." he called to her.

"You've done nothing else anyway." Infinite teased as well.

"I..." the cat hesitated, but gave a sigh in defeat. "Fine."

Saga then marched closer to the tear, despite an increasing sickness, and gave Silver a conflicted look.

"I have it sealed, just close it." her friend told her. "It should be easy."

"Should be." she repeated. Having satisfied her sass for now, Saga held out her hand and concentrated on the tear. Slowly curling her fingers in, she tried to envision the tear getting smaller and smaller. She had to give it to Silver, having his telekinesis hold the tear made it much easier than she thought. It wasn't much longer that the tear was properly closed- letting out a small pop sound to indicate that it was gone for good.

"Good work Saga." Silver congratulated his friend. The cat looked over at him and didn't smile.

"If the rest of the tears are like this, I don't want to be a part of it." she told him. "I feel like I'm about to puke out my intestines."

"Not when I helped you." Infinite spoke up, moving closer to the duo. "You used to use these tears like you owned them."

"Opening is easier than closing." Saga spat back.

"Maybe it's the coffee, stunting your growth." Infinite then snickered. Saga all but hissed at him in return.


	5. Every Wisp Way

_**Dedicated to my little sis, Fae B, who helped me figure out the basic plot and helped me get out of a writer's block for this chapter.**_

* * *

Silver was no stranger to dreams with Infinite in them after their first encounter back in Sonic's time. Some were terrifying, some were super confusing, and others he refused to share with anyone. There were dreams were he, Saga, and Infinite were together and just… happy. But something would always come along to destroy it -mostly Infinite using the Phantom Ruby and launching the world into a disaster zone- and the hedgehog would wake up in a cold sweat.

He had one of those dreams last night, and he hated it with his core. The hedgehog rolled out of his bed and made way to a wipe board he kept for when his telekinesis activated in his sleep. Apparently he had drawn something in his sleep and looking at the art made his sick. Sure as the day was Saga and Infinite, looking back at the real Silver with eyes that made his heart race and his skin crawl.

Grumbling, Silver wiped away the drawing with every once of contempt he was capable of. There were worse things he could do with his telekinesis while sleeping, but he could take out his anger far more easily on this one. After making sure that absolutely no sign of the drawing remained, Silver gave a stiff nod before heading downstairs.

Infinite was already in the kitchen (leisurely sitting on top of the table with an apple in his hand, no less), much to Silver's dismay.

"How's Saga?" Infinite asked before taking a large bite out of his apple.

"Can't you ask her yourself?" Silver questioned.

"Last time I checked, I didn't think you wanted me near her." the jackal snorted. "Is that not the case?"

Silver didn't answer, choosing to ignore the jackal in favor of something to eat. The action did not go unnoticed as Infinite watched the hedgehog prepare cereal.

"What's your problem with me anyway?" Infinite asked, almost genuinely curious. It's not like they ever really knew each other to begin with for such cold shoulders this early in the morning.

"My problem?" Silver repeated, his telekinesis all but slamming the milk carton on the counter. "My _problem_ is that you hurt hundreds of people, including Saga! You used her!"

"And you've never tried to? Or maybe even smother her so she couldn't grow?" Infinite shot back. "There's a reason why she came to me after she broke up with you."

"She was just going through a phase; tried to make me jealous."

"And obviously it worked!"

Now it was time for the cereal itself to crash into the counter- little pieces of frosted flakes spitting into the air and onto the floor.

"And you think I'll just accept that you've changed?!" Silver demanded, instantly casting the jackal a dark glare. Infinite gave a slow blink in return.

"You have obviously never been tortured a day in you life." came the cold reply. "Of _course_ I expect you to accept that I've changed!"

Silver let out an extremely angered growl before forgetting his breakfast entirely, heading out the door straight to the Professor's lab. It wasn't much longer that he entered the lab that he was stopped by Shadow.

"We are going to close the next tear." the dark hedgehog told the near white one without so much a breath from Silver. "There is a very odd power spike southeast of us. It happens to be the site of another tear and we are going."

After several words failed to leave Silver's throat, he eventually settled for a small, "Okay." and the two were off.

. . .

The tear waited for them in an empty plain. Something about the air felt a bit different, but the two hedgehog were able to shake it off and keep to the plan at hand. Once he was close enough, Silver raised a hand and the tear started to envelop with his aura. Slowly working his hands, he attempted to close the tear as careful as possible. Shadow watched on with a scrutinized eye.

"Can you close it without the cat?" he questioned.

"I might." Silver decided. "It's already responding to me better than the last tear."

But there was a resistance the further Silver closed the tear. He didn't seem to notice why until Shadow said, "Silver, wait."

Now with his attention broken, Silver looked at the older hedgehog before looking back at the tear. Through the tear, an image of another world beyond it appeared. Instead of green grass, the ground was black and lifeless- the sky, too, was colored a deep red of foreboding. Inside the tear something looking purple alien-like cephalopods were even moving around in staggering masses, angry and hurting everything in its path- including its fellows.

"Wisps?" Silver questioned as the two of them got a closer look at the world through the tear.

"Nega-Wisps." Shadow grimaced as one passed by them, emitting a feral growl. "They're using their Hyper-Go-On to prevent the tear from closing."

"Great." Silver huffed, releasing his hold of the tear. "Now what?"

"We fall back and contact the Professor. What else could we do?"

Silver gave the older hedgehog a worried glance, but knew there was some truth to it and gave in. As the two started their way back, they were greeted with a transmission through their headsets.

"Guys, World Walker here." the voice of Saga announced. "Why are you leaving the site?"

"The tear is being controlled on the other end." Shadow answered before Silver could object to Saga being at central control. "It would be in your best interest to inform the Professor that we need to contact Planet Wisp."

"Planet Wisp?"

"You heard me, cat. Get the Professor to contact Planet Wisp, it's going to take awhile."

"Right..." the cat warily agreed before closing the channel. She then looked over at the Professor. "Sir," she said, getting his attention quickly enough, "We need to open a communication channel to Planet Wisp. Apparently the guys can't close the tear and think the wisps can help."

"Wisps?" the Professor repeating, saying the name as if it fascinated him. "Hmm… it is true that not many are on our planet anymore. Yes. Yes, I think we can do with trying to reach their home planet instead. It's not that far out on the solar system, any way."

Saga gave a small nod of acknowledgment before raising Shadow and Silver again.

"Chaos Spear and Bugzapper, do you read? We've started to make way for communications to Planet Wisp."

"Good." Shadow confirmed, the bitter mumble of "I hate that nickname." coming from Silver in the background. Shadow seemed to ignore it as he went on to add, "We're returning to base to regroup."

"Do you think the tear will stay sustained enough for us to reach Planet Wisp?" the Professor mused from his station.

Shadow did not answer right away at first, instead giving a gruff sigh before admitting, "It better." and then closing the line.

. . .

When Silver and Shadow returned to the Professor's lab, they found that everyone had been stationed at a computer. In the four rows of computers, Saga and Saffron sat near each other in the fourth row, Infinite sat in front of them in the second row, and the Professor himself furiously typing away on the biggest computer in the first row. On the main screen was something that resembled a large, light pink jellyfish. It acting like it was trying to say something to the others, only pausing when it noticed that Silver and Shadow had arrived.

"What's the hold up?" Shadow demanded to anyone that was listening. Saffron was the first to react, casting Shadow a rather dark glare and moving closer to Saga.

"The Prof was able to get the mother Wisp, but we can't talk to her." the rabbit kid soon explained. "Some kind of 'language barrier', Prof called it. So, apparently wisps don't speak Mobian."

"We really need better equipment for this." the Professor grumbled as he adjusted satellite signals to better translate the mother Wisp.

"Got it!" the Professor suddenly declared as he smacked a button to the side of the computer. "Silver, go see if it worked!"

The near white hedgehog gave a small groan but went up closer- while passing Infinite, the jackal raised an eyebrow as he took a moment to appreciate the hedgehog's gait. Silver didn't seem to notice as he continued to make his way to the Professor's side. Silver looked up at the screen and cleared his throat a little.

"It is a great honor for you to accept our transmission, Mother Wisp."

"...the pleasure is mine..." a new voice lightly agreed through the speakers. "…it has been awhile since we have been contacted by Mobius..."

"It is not without reason, ma'am. We have confirmation of something that effects your race as much as ours."

"...oh…?"

"Ma'am, we have discovered a tear in the space and time continuum that contains a world where wisps are malevolent creatures. We went to close the tear, but found we were unable due to the wisps on the other side using their abilities to prevent the closure. With your permission, we wish to use wisps from this dimension to counteract the other dimension's wisps and close the tear proper."

"...will my children be hurt…?"

Silver hesitated for a moment. Would the wisps be hurt? It would take a lot of power, but would it be enough for them to become Nega-Wisps as well?

"I can't say for sure, ma'am." the hedgehog admitted.

"...I see..." the Mother Wisp nodded. Then she turned a little to notice Saga at one of the computers. The Mother Wisp tilted her head just slightly as the cat became aware that someone was staring at her.

"...you are strongly connected to the tears…" the Mother Wisp then said to Saga, "...tell me, should I send my children to help you…?"

For a moment, the cat just stared blankly at the screen.

"Me?" the dumbfounded cat even questioned. "You're asking me?"

"...of course sweetling..."

This immediately sent Saga on the defensive. "Silver's the diplomat, ma'am. I'm not..."

"...that is not what I asked child..."

Having been shut down like this, Saga recoiled. The cat looked down as she was now forced to think of an answer.

"No." Saga decided, looking up at the Mother Wisp.

"Saga," Silver whispered to her, "What are you...?"

"If the universe wouldn't collapse on itself if this tear remains open, then my answer would have been no." Saga reiterated, speaking to the Mother Wisp more than Silver. "But at the moment our universe needs the Wisps from letting worse Wisps out. We need your children - _you_ need your children- to help close the tear or we won't have anything anymore."

"...is that how you feel...?"

"At this point? It's all I know."

The mother Wisp seemed interested with this answer. She then turned her attention back to Silver.

"...I will send my eldest and strongest children to aid you…" she agreed. "…they will meet you at the breach..."

Silver gave a nod, then a small bow. "Thank you ma'am." he thanked before the transmission cut out. Without another word, both he and Shadow were back out the door.

As the mother Wisp promised, the Wisps they would need were already at the tear and ready for orders. Shadow didn't hesitate at directing them by commanding;

"Asteroid and Hover wisps, boarder the tear so it doesn't expand any more than it is." he commanded, "Rocket and Lightning, station yourself in the event a Nega-Wisp comes through the tear. Boosts, make sure that your fellows are completely powered at all times."

The Wisps agreed and manned their stations, Shadow then turned to Silver.

"Close the tear." he demanded. The near white hedgehog agreed before enveloping the tear with his aura again. With the Wisps actively making the job much easier than it had before, the tear was closed in minutes.

Back at control central, the others were making sure the tear was closed for good. Saffron, however, had his mind on something else.

"You think Wisps would make awesome pets?" he mused, looking over at Saga.

"Absolutely not." she immediately denied.

"Why?" the rabbit boy whined.

"Wisps aren't pets. Chao on the other hand..."

"It's impossible to find Chao anymore!" Saffron whined even louder. "Name me one Chao Garden that's anywhere near here Saga!"

The cat gave a small lower and raise of her shoulder. "Then I guess you gotta start looking if you want a pet so bad."

Saffron hated this answer, and showed this by folding his arms and letting out an annoyed scoff. Although it really wasn't such a bad idea…


	6. Soleanna: The Festival of Wind

Ever since its foundation, Soleanna was always at its most beautiful at night. The drab off-white coloring of its buildings perfectly reflected the full moon's light on the water; some times there would even be a stray floating candle or two in the city's numerous canals that signified the birth or death for one its citizens. For tonight, however, a candle for every citizen filled the waterways for the special event taking place. Tonight, every citizen crowded on the sidewalks that surrounded the ceremonial pedestal with sparklers in hand as they awaited the arrival of their princess.

When the princess appeared on her boat from under the archway, the citizens of Soleanna were in an uproar. The princess, just shy of 19 now, smiled and waved at her guests and citizens as the boat continued its way to the pedestal. She looked positively radiant in the candle glow, dressed in a fine silk dress, its length just barely touching her knees, adorned with light blue and yellow feathers at the dress's bottom hem. Her heeled, pale yellow, soft leather boots reached mid-calf and was tied with black laces in a seemingly complicated pattern.

Once the boat reached the loading dock on the ceremonial platform, the princess straightened herself a little more before walking out. Her head held high, the princess still continued to wave at her citizens and a few guests that happened to be attending that night as well. When she reached the center of the ceremonial platform, the princess spun on her heel to address the masses.

"Greetings and good tidings to those attending our Festival tonight!" she declared, her voice clear and filled with authority. It made the crowd go absolutely wild. The princess gave a little smile at this before letting it die down a little before continuing, "On this night, we celebrate the life and legacy of Sonic the Hedgehog in the Festival of Wind!"

As the princess went on with the ceremony, four visitors -dressed in their very best for the night- were watching from the very archway the princess had gone under. Such an odd little group too: a jackal with heterochromia and a scar over his right eye, a rabbit child with odd miscolored patches throughout his fur, a cat with two-toned hair that sat braided on her shoulder, and a near while hedgehog with a questionable quill placement.

"I'd tap that." the jackal decided the moment a good view of the princess presented itself.

"Infinite!" Silver immediately snapped. He then lowered his voice to add, "There's a child present."

The jackal gave a shrug, rephrasing himself to say, "I'd sleep with her even though it's likely taboo here."

"Oh good Gaia..." the hedgehog moaned, praying now that Saffron wasn't going to start looking up lady's skirts by the end of the trip. It didn't particularly matter as the rabbit child couldn't even see over the stone railing to see the ceremony.

"Did she light that horned thing yet?" the rabbit child anxiously questioned as he desperately moved to get a better view. "It's 'sposed to be blue flames 'stead of red, cuz Sonic was blue or something!"

"No," Infinite told the kid with an amused smirk, "But she's going to."

"Really? Urg, I can't see!"

That was when a light blue aura surrounded Saffron, lifting him in the air enough to see over the railing. At first the rabbit kid was excited, but then it was replaced with annoyance.

"I could have figured it out on my own, Silver!" he accused. The hedgehog -who was leisurely leaning over the railing, with his hand surrounded in the same aura that covered Saffron- gave a small raise and lower of his shoulder and refused to take the aura away. Saffron grumbled for a bit longer but was just as easily distracted when the blue fire was lit- his voice was among the loudest of those cheering at the display.

Infinite smirked at the kid before leaning over slightly to look at the others. Silver's face had lit up with absolute marvel, successfully making the 20 year old hedgehog look 14 again. But when Infinite looked over at Saga, that was when he started to frown. Saga kept her eyes trained to the princess- you would have almost assumed the cat had become a statue had it not been for the gentle raise and lower of her chest. Taking note that Silver and Saffron were too enraptured by the ceremonial display, the jackal used his skills as an assassin to move behind Saga, take her by the wrist, and dragged her off to a quiet corner before the other two even registered that they left.

"Something wrong, puss?" the jackal asked, folding his arms as he studied her closer. She refused to look up at him and her arms covered her stomach. Her feet shuffled against the ground as if she were trying to keep her mind busy with some other task, and -the most damning piece of evidence- was her tail wrapped around her legs in some sort of comfort. Infinite had never seen her do that before and it almost worried him for a moment.

So he resorted to do something he would never do for anyone else: flattery.

"Your dress has too thin straps." he mumbled to her, taking one of said straps gently with his fingertips. "But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a good look for you..."

Saga emitted a low groan of either disgust or annoyance. Infinite didn't bother to decide which was which at the moment and continued;

"If we were still in the time of the Jackal Squad, I would have demanded you take that frumpy thing off." he then idly noted, sliding his fingers down to where the strap met the rest of the dress- which also happened to be just above her breast. "It would have been a distraction for the enemy, or even worse, one of us."

The jackal moved in closer- all intentions to seduce her with a kiss need it be. "You're an interesting creature Saga, why do you hide it? Tell me what's troubling you, my puss..."

He was close enough to kiss her now, but just as their foreheads touched Saga pushed him away with both hands. For a moment he was startled and annoyed at this development, but then he got a good look at her face. Saga looked so pale that Infinite wondered for a moment if she was going to pass out.

"There's a tear near here." he deduced, also noticing her growing desire to puke as well. "And close."

Saga gave a weak nod, in an even weaker voice she said, "Silver… Saffron..."

"Need to know too." the jackal finished for her. "If that thing's tearing you up, then we need to find it now."

"We need..." Saga started to argue, but a sudden wave of illness stopped her. Infinite flinched: sick people were never his favorite kind, especially if it was someone close to him. After gesturing for her to come a little closer, Infinite took one of Saga's arms and draped it around his neck to help guide her back. She could walk fine, of course, but the extra help to keep steady wasn't unwelcome either.

"Where were you two?" Silver asked when they all found each other again- the ceremony had ended not long after Saga and Infinite left, leaving Silver and Saffron to try to find them since then.

"The puss had a furball to get rid of." Infinite replied with a smirk. Silver gave him a questioning side glance before looking over at Saga. But after seeing her, the hedgehog staggered back a little in surprise.

"What happened?!" he asked, looking her up and down.

"There's a tear." Saga rasped. "And it's protected by… something."

"You saw it?" Saffron questioned, growing more interested at the situation. To this, Saga shook her head, the reason why was written all over her face.

"We need to tell the princess." Silver decided, hitting his fist in the palm of his hand.

"Why?" questioned Saffron. "We never needed to ask permission before."

"Soleanna is a self-protected country- it has its own branch of military, so we need permission to protect it." Silver explained. "Green Hill is more public domain than anything so we didn't need much permission, and the place we found the wisps was just an empty plain near base."

"So how do we get an audience with the princess?" Infinite then asked, folding his arms and giving Silver an interested raise of his eyebrow.

"We ask?" replied Silver with a small shrug.

. . .

For a princess, Elise sure did like wearing more casual clothes when having a personal meeting. Her dress had been exchanged for a pair of black slacks and an asymmetrical t-shirt that cut just a little above her midriff. The only accessory she kept was a scarf that she used for a belt instead- the excess swaying at her side as she walked.

"I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance." Elise warmly greeted as she shook hands with Silver, Saga, Infinite, and Saffron.

"The pleasure is mine your highness." Silver greeted right back. "We're honored that you've taken audience to us so quickly."

The princess let out a little laugh and an even brighter smile. "It was definitely an odd request." she admitted. "Usually after our festivals, there's demand for crowd control and waterway safety, not requests to deal with mysterious -and incredibly dangerous- time portals."

"We've been calling them tears, your highness." Silver informed her. "Since they are, by all means, tears in space and time."

"Tears..." Elise repeated with a thoughtful expression. "Yes, I can see why you would call them that. I've liken ours to a portal though, it feels like it contains its own world, you know?"

"They do." Silver agreed. "And so much more, which is why we need to close them or else they'll override our own reality."

Elise tilted her head at this idea, thinking it over and finding part of it highly fascinating.

"I'll take you to the tear," she finally said, "It's over by the train station. Follow me and I'll show you the way."

"On your command, your highness." Silver agreed with a small bow. Elise was amused by this, but said nothing further as the five of them headed out.


	7. Soleanna: For the Love of Solaris

Walking their way to the train station, Saffron decided to speak up.

"Hey princess, why do you celebrate the Festival of Wind? What did Sonic do to earn something special here but not anywhere else? Was he born here?"

Silver and Infinite, who knew damn well why Sonic should be honored at all, said nothing as the princess explained to the rabbit kid,

"Duchess Elise the Third was very fond of Sonic, and honored him with a statue in the main plaza. But she was never able to meet him: My great-great-grandmother suffered a heart disease in her late thirties and died not long after. My great-grandmother (who was 15 when her mother died) was able to meet Sonic not long after that. It was said that they had a very close relationship- one such as a parent and child."

"How charming." Infinite mumbled under his breath. Elise apparently heard him as she let out a wistful sigh.

"Isn't it?" she marveled. "I've always envied them, especially my grandmother, who apparently was spoiled with gifts until Sonic's passing. We requested to have his passing observed here, but it was ultimately decided that it would be closer to his home country.

"The Festival of Wind held its first ceremonies a year after Sonic's passing. My grandmother was the first to preside over the festival- not a dry eye was found in our city after her opening speech. Since then, we set aside a day in spring to celebrate the hedgehog and all that he's done to keep his generation safe from harm."

"It's a nice gesture." Silver quietly admitted, mostly to himself. "Sonic would have hated it, but would have been humbled at the same time."

Infinite snorted, wondering what rose-colored glasses the near white hedgehog was seeing through. But then again, he had been Sonic's ally, Infinite was not.

"Here we are." the princess announced, snapping Infinite out of his thoughts. Sure enough, just a head of them in a crevice by the train station's entrance was the tear; its shimmer looked erratic, however, almost like flames dancing in an uncontrolled wildfire.

"Saffron," Silver soon instructed, "Stay here with Saga while Infinite and I inspect the tear."

"But she's gonna throw up!" the rabbit kid whined. "Just look at her!"

It was true, Saga was hunched over with both hands at her head, looking more like a lunatic on drugs as she attempted to hold back her sickening stomach and silent whispers of worse demons coming from the tear. Helpless, Silver looked back at Saffron.

"Just stay here." he begged before going to inspect the tear.

Walking beside Infinite, the two got closer to the breach to determine how hard it would be to get rid of it. Silver almost immediately placed a barrier over it and directly after released his hold of it, shaking his hand off like he had been burnt.

"It's too hot." he explained to no one in particular before getting a better look on the world beyond. That was when he froze in his spot. In a soft, low whisper, Silver mumbled, "This is Crisis City."

"What was that?" Infinite questioned, casting the hedgehog a side glance.

"This place… it's called Crisis City."

"How do you know that?"

"I… don't know." the hedgehog admitted. "But I can just… _feel_ it. It is… was… could be… Soleanna."

"How?" Infinite questioned, getting a bit annoyed at the hedgehog's sudden vagueness. Silver never gave an answer, walking slow toward the tear with an arm outstretched as if he planned to enter it.

"There's a reason why Saga doesn't like this tear." he said so quietly that Infinite almost didn't hear. "It's because she doesn't exist on the other side..."

If Infinite had given a reaction to this, Silver hadn't noticed. He was so close to touching the tear before someone shouted, "Silver!" and quickly broke his trance. By the time Silver turned around, some kind of lava-based worm thing had been cut in two by Infinite's blade; Infinite himself staged to prove that he had slashed the thing with ease. The jackal took a restful stance again before looking back at Silver.

"Are you alright?"

For a moment, Silver didn't know how to respond. "I… uh… y-yeah." he finally admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Thanks..."

"Don't thank me yet." Infinite insisted. "Guts Man is about to throw a boulder through the tear."

"What?" the still brain-fogged hedgehog questioned before turning around. Not far from the tear on its inside, a golem made of lava and shadow pulled a large chunk out of the ground and threw it at the opening. Without a second thought, Silver raised his arms and a protective barrier surrounded him- causing the hunk of rock to shatter on impact. This upset the golem on the other side as it then started to advance toward the tear.

"Silver," Saffron's worried voice shouted, "He's coming through the tear!"

Without a second thought, Silver dodged out of the way just as the golem came through. The big thing looked confused for a moment, buying Silver time to get out of its way and back over to Infinite.

"Do you think your sword can cut through _that_ in one swing?" Silver asked the jackal.

"A Zeronium blade can cut through flesh like a hot knife on butter." came the reply. "But I never tried to cut a mountain in half."

Then, Saffron wildly turned to the princess and took her by the hands, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Princess, you need to ask one of your servants to bring your lucky charm ASAP." The rabbit kid's eyes were desperate as he added, "You have to break the seal on the tear with your soul of fire or the tear will spread!"

For a moment, Elise had been too surprised by this sudden request to do anything but she soon nodded.

"Got it." she agreed before heading off. With that matter finished, Saffron turned his attention to Infinite and Silver.

"Infinite, don't slice him in half- he's too dense!"

"No kidding." the jackal snarled.

"Take out his hands instead," the rabbit kid went on, as if he didn't hear him, "It will stop him from creating boulders!"

With this information, Infinite gave Silver a wild, almost impressed look.

"Do it." the hedgehog requested as the golem started to come around again. "If he wants you to do it, that means he's seen something worse."

The jackal gave an affirming nod before dashing toward the golem. Taking out its hands was only a breeze- the monster too slow to react properly to a close target.

"Silver, more monsters are going to come through the tear before Elise can get back." Saffron then said. "You can use your powers to hold them back- but it'll be close. Infinite, you need to keep the golem busy by any means possible. He can't go back through the tear."

"He can't?" Infinite questioned, while starting to distract the golem regardless.

"He can't." the rabbit child agreed. "If you try, other monsters come through the tear. And don't let them get near Saga; don't!"

Silver and Infinite exchanged a concerned glance at this insistence, but didn't have time to question it before starting to do the jobs Saffron had given them. It didn't take long for Elise to come back, something emitting a light blue glow from her arms. Saffron didn't waste time giving orders here either.

"Silver, put a barrier around Elise so she doesn't get hit, and then Elise use the lucky charm to absorb the heat energy around the tear!"

"Right!" Silver and Elise agreed before going through with the plan. Once she was close enough, Elise stretched out her arms to show the lucky charm to the tear- the barrier around it instantly responded by funneling into the charm and into Elise herself. Silver caught a small look at the charm and thought that it looked a lot like…  
"Silver, you have to close the tear!" Saffron demanded, more desperate this time than ever. "No matter what she does, Saga will not be able to close it, so you have to!"

"What about the monsters on the inside?" the hedgehog questioned.

"You'll have to release your barrier, and immediately after close the tear." the rabbit kid returned. "Like, super quick; faster than Sonic quick!"

"We'll see about that..." Silver muttered under his breath. He gave himself a little bit of time to clear his mind before releasing the barrier he had, and in a swift motion closed the tear in a blink. The small pop from the tear confirming its status as sealed for now.

"It's over." Saffron sighed in relief, sinking to his knees and sprawling himself on the ground. "Thank Chaos. It's all over..."

. . .

"I'd like to thank you again for closing that tear for us, Silver."

"It was a joint effort, your highness. If anything, it was Saffron who saved us."

Princess Elise and Silver were walking along the canals a day after closing the tear. The princess had required everyone's audience, but only Silver had the energy to answer. It was a very calming walk, honestly, but Silver could sense that maybe the princess wanted to talk for something other than an extended thank you.

"Whoever it is we are to thank, we now know that these tears can be a menace." Elise firmly stated.

"Therefore, Soleanna would be proud to help fund your finding and elimination of these tears. We will help where ever we can, when ever you need us."

"Princess, no offense taken, but we do not really need..."

"May I remind you," the princess cut in, unnerving Silver a little, "We have invented many useful gadgets since our city's founding; we even developed the Wispon technology used in the Phantom Ruby War 100 years ago."

"I know that." Silver unconsciously mumbled under his breath. "I was there."

"Oh?" Elise marveled with a little tilt of her head. Knowing that he had been heard, Silver gave a small flinch and instinctively made a reach for the back of his head.

"Oh, uh..." the hedgehog fumbled, "I'm a time traveler. Sort of. I'm one of those 'paradoxical advent' kids, or whatever they call them…?"

"Those few Mobians that can go forward or backward in time in various ways?"

"Yeah, those guys." he agreed with a nod. "Each kid has a different way of going through time, kinda like a fingerprint. I was able to hone in on one particular person (I could probably do it to someone else too now, I've just never tried before) and after awhile I just… exhausted where I could go, I guess. Everyone settles down eventually."

"Who were you connected to?" the princess asked, her eyes softening with fondness.

"You probably already know..." Silver awkwardly chuckled. "It was Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

Elise gave a little smile as she looked up at the sky. "I thought so." she claimed. "From what I've heard of him, he's quite a bit similar to you. Kind, brave, and cute enough for someone of your kind..."

"Cu-cute…?!" Silver sputtered in surprise, casting the princess a wild look. She didn't even have to look at him to let out a gentle laughter.

"Princess..." the hedgehog continued to stutter, "I'm not sure if you know, but I am looking at someone else right now."

"I don't have to insinuate a relationship between us to state how cute you are." Elise remarked, still no more amused than before. "But I know your heart has sights on someone else; I've seen the way you three look at each other."

That was when Silver's face started to burn a deep red color, allowing the princess to give a light, humorous laughter that echoed throughout the otherwise quiet canals.

* * *

 _ **Hey readers! First of all, I want to say thank you for reading, but now I need your help! In chapter 10, Silver and Infinite find a little snowman that has come out of a tear. The tear can't be closed until the snowman goes back to his proper world, but that's the problem, he can't go back! I need help on how our little snowman friend gets back home with the aid of Silver and Infinite, and any suggestions will help tremendously!**_

 _ **Once more, thank you for reading and let those ideas flow!**_


	8. Someone to Take Care of You

READY FOR COMMAND, Professor

C:\motherboard\open SoleannaTrack3.9

OPEN FILE SoleannaTrack3.9 CONFIRM

LOADING…

LOADING…

LOADING…

DONE.

RUNNING SoleannaTrack3.9

NOW INSTALLING DATA…

INSTALLING track… DONE

INSTALLING sensor… DONE

INSTALLING predictor… DONE

INSTALLING translator… DONE

INSTALLING AdvancedAI… DONE

DATA INSTALLATION COMPLETE

WARNING: NEW RUN TIME ROUTINE DETECTED. DO YOU WISH TO RUN IT? [y/n]

Y

INPUT CONFIRMED

RUNNING NEW ROUTINES IN

3...

2…

I… uh… Hello...?

What did you do to me Professor?

I can see _everything_.

. . .

Shadow was no idiot, but that didn't mean he had patience either.

"Why are you just standing around while those tears grow more dangerous?" he demanded to Silver. "You know they have the power to let things in that don't belong here- they could be hurting innocents by the hour and you'd be playing sitting duck."

"We need to recover." Silver admitted, not looking the older hedgehog in the eye. "The trip to Soleanna took everything out of Saga and Saffron."

"The cat didn't even _do_ anything there."

Silver only shook his head in exasperation and a low annoyance. He and Shadow had been at this since they came back from the city of water. Of course, explaining a paradox to Shadow was useless when, at the same time, a seven year old had seen his friends die numerous times before finding a way to save them. Both situations had to be addressed, but where Silver thought that Saga's powers could have made the situation worse, Shadow knew that Saffron's current mental health held better importance.

"That kid is having nightmares." Shadow seethed. "I don't care what you call his powers, but he uses them to spy on me, then disappear the next moment. _You need to talk to him_."

"Saffron isn't just going to confess he's been having nightmares, Shadow." Silver rebutted. "He's stubborn, even more so when he's stressed. He needs some space, and time..."

"He _needs_ someone to talk to while the rest of you take care of the tears!" Shadow shouted, slamming his fists into the table. With this, the older hedgehog gave up- throwing his hands in the air with frustration and leaving the room as loudly as he could. Silver remained where he was, knowing that if anyone definitely needed space to cool off, it was Shadow.

And boy, how did the Ultimate Lifeform like to brood.

Making his way back to his dormitory, while grumbling several choice words toward Silver, Shadow happened to pass by Infinite and had to look twice. The jackal, just coming out of the cafeteria, was holding a serving tray with three cups containing something hot sitting on it. One of those cups smelled distinctly of coffee, and Shadow instantly knew where Infinite was going with those cups.

He must have stared too long because Infinite looked up.

"It's not poisoned, if that's what that look's for." the jackal told the hedgehog with a teasing grin. "The coffee may be the tiniest bit spiked with whiskey, but the hot chocolate's completely untouched."

Shadow said nothing, only continuing to give the jackal a cold, unblinking stare.

"If that's how you're going to be..." Infinite decided with a shrug, going back on his route before he noticed Shadow. But after a few steps, Infinite stopped again.

"You know, I might actually agree with you on something." the jackal mused. Shadow raised an eyebrow, affording Infinite to continue. "We should be looking for more tears, however -stay with me on this because it's a big one- our mistake in Soleanna was not ignoring the rabbit kid's mental health, it was sending all of us at once."

Shadow stood a bit straighter with a new flaring anger. "What does that have to do with-"

"I said _listen_ , didn't I?" Infinite said, cutting Shadow off.

"And what would you know about this situation?" Shadow demanded in return. His crossed his arms in defiance to better illustrate how much respect he really had for the jackal.

"I had a team of six that you wiped out in less than two hours, remember?" the jackal chuckled, albeit darkly. "Baldy had us scattered and all on field at the same time. It was not the best strategy, but when did _his_ plans ever work?"

"Except for the time it did." Shadow remarked. Infinite shrugged it off, never mind that he was a part of that scheme. But it could be argued that it worked _because_ he was a part of it. Regardless...

"The only time I had my entire team on field at once was when I knew that stakes were high." he insisted, casting Shadow a dark look. "Where I knew that each of us had a skill that could be used to get what we wanted and get out even faster. After that? We rested. For days, maybe weeks if we needed it. Some times our bounty was high enough that we could live comfortably for months without having to loot anything else. We were 'normal' citizens then, could you believe it?"

Shadow grunted- a wordless hint that Infinite needed to get to the point and quickly.

"You had a team before, didn't you?" recalled the jackal, clicking his tongue with certainty. "A bucket of tin, a seductive secretary, and yourself designed to be a nigh-invulnerable weapon from the get-go? Tell me, since there were only three of you, did you ever sleep?"

"Of course we did." Shadow spat.

"Then take the three of you, multiply it by two and have all that force out at once. How much longer would it take for your _entire group_ to recharge?"

Finally, Shadow understood what Infinite was getting at- even with the most convoluted parable ever. But that didn't mean he agreed with it any more than earlier either. Instead, the Ultimate Lifeform changed the subject.

"One of those is for the rabbit kid, isn't it?"

Infinite raised an eyebrow at Shadow before looking down at the tray. He looked back up at Shadow and smirked.

"Yeah. Heard he likes extra chocolate. Not gonna deny a kid's sweet tooth when they're traumatized, right?"

"At least someone is taking care of him." Shadow grumbled before leaving.

. . .

Saffron didn't need to tell anyone that he hadn't been sleeping, they could easily tell from the dark bags under his eyes. What they likely didn't know was that he had been looping more often too. He had to make sure everyone was safe, always. He especially tried to keep eyes on Shadow, for various reasons he could now affirm to after Soleanna. It didn't matter if Shadow called himself Shadow or not- whoever that Shadow-looking hedgehog was, he had Silver _and_ Infinite killed in one blow.

The rabbit kid shook his head. No, he wasn't going to think about that anymore. He wasn't going to think about how many loops it took before it was all over. He wasn't going to think about how many times he had to watch his friends die over, and over, and over…

"Got you some hot chocolate, kid."

Suddenly snapped out of his thoughts, Saffron looked up to see Infinite offering him a cup of hot chocolate. The kid had been so caught up in his thoughts that he forgot that he had went over to Saga, Silver, and Infinite's bunker. He meant to leave soon after, but Saga had been sitting at the table with Infinite and eventually the conversation had changed to the jackal going to get everyone a nice warm beverage to calm down. Infinite had come back and had already given Saga her coffee, now it was Saffron's turn.

After a few more moments of looking at the jackal like an idiot, Saffron reached out for the cup and let out a small, "Thanks." before taking the cup and taking a small sip from it.

"So," Infinite then mused, "How are you two holding up?"

No one answered him as the two of them drank their respective drinks in silence, savoring the warmth as it filled their bodes. Eventually, it was Saga who said,

"You spiked my drink."

"Only to help you sleep." the jackal claimed with a Cheshire cat smile. When Saga gave him the stink eye, he went on to add, "Nothing else was put in the kid's cup, promise; just chocolate. Like I would spike the drink of a kid under the age of 16, my puss, seriously. I thought you knew me better than that."

Saga said nothing in return, and instead -while knowing her drink was spiked- took another long sip from her cup. Infinite chuckled at her before turning his attention to Saffron.

"How's the hot chocolate, kid?"

"Fine..." came the rather absent answer. Infinite raised an eyebrow at this, resting his elbows on the table and using his knuckles to sit his chin on.

"You know," the jackal mused, "Shadow was grumbling about the funniest thing when I passed him earlier."

Saffron looked up at him with a face that expressed hatred; Saga too looked up with a skeptic raise of her eyebrow. Infinite took this as a sign to continue.

"It was so funny," he claimed, "It went something along the lines of you using your superpower to spy on him at night."

"Saffron!" Saga immediately accused, almost slamming her cup down on the table.

"Now, now puss. I wasn't talking to you." Infinite smoothly claimed, keeping his gaze locked on the rabbit child. "I don't particularly care if it's true or not, but I am curious. Why Shadow?"

Saffron gave Infinite a dark and uncooperative look. Why did it matter to Infinite if he thought Shadow was the one that murdered him in cold blood? In fact…

"He killed you!" Saffron finally admitted, getting so loud that he actually surprised Saga. "He killed you and Silver in one blow with some long, blue energy spear thing, and…!"

"Are you sure it was Shadow?"

The response had been said so cold and still that Saffron gave a bewildered blink.

"Yeah, I saw-"

"Are you _sure_?"

"I… I dunno." the rabbit child slowly started to admit. "It looked like him, I guess..."

Infinite cocked an eyebrow with interest. "Did Silver or I act like we've seen him before?"

"Well… Silver kinda did but you didn't."

Knowing this, Infinite sat a bit straighter knowing that he had more than enough information now to get an idea of what the kid really saw.

"Sometimes what you see isn't the whole truth, especially with these tears." he informed the rabbit child. "Now, I don't know _who_ you saw, but I'm fairly confident that it _wasn't_ Shadow."

"Then who was it?" Saffron questioned, his fists hitting the table, making his hot chocolate violently swoosh a little inside the cup.

Infinite shrugged. "Don't know." he admitted. "And we likely never will know. But for now, just lay off the old man and let him sleep- he gets cranky when he doesn't get his rest."

. . .

Saffron stayed with Saga and Infinite for a bit longer before the sun decided to set for the day. He really didn't want to leave, but as seeing their bunker didn't have an extra bed for him to rest on, he had to go back to his own for the night.

Despite knowing he was safe with Infinite and Saga, Saffron just couldn't get his mind off what the jackal said earlier. If that wasn't Shadow, _who_ did he see?

"I can help you find out who you saw." a voice near him suddenly said. Saffron jumped in surprise and wildly looked around him, but he saw nothing. After the adrenaline wore down a bit, the rabbit child realized it had been a call on his headset.

"Who are you?" Saffron demanded. "This is a private channel!"

"You don't recognize me?" the voice asked, sounding rather disappointed.

The rabbit child recoiled a bit. There was something about that voice- a female voice, that was a bit sweet and also a bit mechanical as well. "Well… maybe. I dunno though..."

"I'll give you a hint, then." the voice informed him. "I'm someone close to the Professor."

"The Professor has a daughter?" the rabbit kid immediately blurted. The voice on the other end giggled a little.

"I guess you could say that." it agreed before letting out another giggle.

"What's your name?" Saffron then asked.

This made the voice hum for a little bit. In a sing-song kind of voice, it answered with, "You can call me… Nela."


	9. Lynx in the Machine

Personally, Saffron hated the curfew with a rotting passion, and -as a result- ignored it whenever he could. Due to current circumstances and whatnot, tonight was going to be one of those nights.

"Alright Nela," Saffron decided as he situated himself in the now empty computer room. "How do we find out who that not-Shadow person was?"

"Give me a minute..." Nela promised. "I need to..."

Nela trailed off as something started to happen on the computer screen. Saffron had to squint to make sure he was seeing it right, and what he saw made him recoil in surprise; A figure seemed to softly glitch into existence on the screen- at first as a simple, Mobian like form before refining itself into a Mobian lynx. Saffron continued to gawk as the lynx Mobian started to color itself in, like a child scribbling colors into a coloring book. As the colors reached its body, the lynx started to gain clothes as well. When the lynx was properly colored and clothed, there on the screen was brown lynx Mobian with black markings on her face and her ears.

"How do I look?" Nela asked, but the lynx's mouth moved, admittedly scaring Saffron more than it should have.

"Does my avatar scare you?" the lynx curiously asked, again in Nela's voice, as it tilted its head at him. Words still failing to come out, Saffron just shook his head.

"Oh good." she smiled with a little clap of her hands. "Now, let's find out who you saw. Can you describe him for me?"

For this, Saffron shook himself from his surprise to answer her. "He looked like Shadow." he adamantly claimed. "But his bracers were gray. In fact, he didn't have any real color on him, he was just all gray and stuff. Oh! And he didn't have a mouth either."

"Oh, interesting!" Nela claimed as the avatar spun around, then extended its arms that some how made several windows appear on the screen. The windows then started to display several photos of Mobians Saffron didn't recognize. As more photos started to appear and disappear far too quickly for him to keep track, Nela's avatar brought up another window that displayed rounds and rounds of code that Saffron couldn't deceiver to save his life.

From there, a hushed silence filled the room as Nela (or was it her avatar?) shifted through all the data and possibilities that laid in Soleanna's history. It took some time, but the rapid change of pictures and data slowed down, and Nela's avatar turned to look at Saffron again.

"Saffron…?" Nela quietly said as if something was troubling her.

"Yeah?" the rabbit child nonchalantly replied.

"According to this data, you looped 13 times- 9 of those times there were severe causalities for your group."

He hadn't been aware of it at first, but Saffron had flinched. "Yeah, so?"

"I… I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's not a big deal. With great power comes great responsibility, right?"

"Saffron, you're seven! You shouldn't be seeing those things!"

Saffron looked away, refusing to say anything else about the situation. Nela must have known this as her avatar pulled up a picture of the mysterious not-Shadow and some other data that she knew Saffron could read easily.

"This is who you saw." she softly said to him to gain his attention again. It seemed to work as Saffron looked back at the screen.

"Mephiles." Saffron read off the data.  
"His full moniker is Mephiles the Dark." Nela explained, bringing up more files. "There was a reality where he was created as a half from Soleanna's god, Solaris through some rather unethical experiments. It's a complicated story for now, but Shadow apparently had a hand in capturing Mephiles the first time, and accidentally released him 10 years after. This allowed Mephiles to literally claim Shadow's shadow (try saying that five times fast, ha!) and took on his appearance for a time."

"So it was Mephiles that killed Infinite and Silver."

"Yes." Nela affirmed. "And those monsters they held off? They were creatures created by Mephile's twin and opposite, Iblis."

"Iblis..." Saffron once more repeated, playing the word around in his head as if it meant something to him. After thinking it over, he turned his attention back to the monitor. "What happened in that reality Nela?"

"A paradox, to put it simply, set in motion by Princess Elise the Third."

Princess Elise… the Third? Why didn't the current princess of Soleanna know that her ancestor caused a paradox? Did they not remember it? I mean, it was a paradox after all, maybe that had been part of its effect? Eventually, Saffron just let out a small, mystified, "Weird."

"Oh, definitely." Nela agreed. "And that's not even the start of that paradox and its effects on our current reality."

"Nela," Saffron started to say, "What do you-"

"Saffron, why are you still awake? It's past curfew."

The rabbit kid jumped a good foot in the air -knocking out the monitor cable for the computer, making the screen go black- before turned around to look at the Professor.

"I, uh… I was..."

The Professor simply stood where he was while Saffron choked on his words. There was a reason why Saffron tried to avoid the Professor (and yes, the Professor in particular, not just Silver and Saga) for a year.

"I was going to head back to my bunker." the rabbit kid finally said, refusing the look at the Professor as he got off the desk chair.

"Good boy." the Professor agreed with a nod. The Professor then watched as Saffron headed out the door without so much a blink. When Saffron closed the door behind him for the lab, the Professor gave a curious stroke of his chin before mumbling, "What a peculiar child..."

. . .

Silver was coming to the very quick realization that Infinite would wake up far before anyone else. While the jackal had not been in the kitchen of their dormitory, Silver had found him observing the front of the professor's lab.

"You know who built this place?" the jackal asked when he noticed Silver come up to him. "It's a sturdy little compound, I almost wonder if Eggman had a hand here."

"Doubt it." Silver disagreed with a little snort. "This place has been in the Professor's family for a good 50 years… some how."

Infinite raised an eyebrow. "How do you keep a _military base_ in your family for 50 years? How does a military base even become _family_ property to begin with?"

At first, Silver only offered a small shrug before his spine straightened with realization. "I… don't know." he admitted. "I never really thought about it- never really had to, honestly. The Professor offered us a home when we didn't have any; don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?"

Infinite gave Silver a concerned glare, a glare that the hedgehog tried to shake off but couldn't.

"Bugzapper and Nth Degree do you read?" a voice from their headsets suddenly announced. Infinite didn't recognize it at first before realizing that he had heard it at least once before. But from where? "Please wake up World Walker, the Professor would like to see everyone in the main laboratory. Do be careful, if you scare her she'll shift in her sleep. Thank you!"

After the channel cut off, Silver let out a small, bewildered, "Weird."

"There are a lot of weird things in this compound," Infinite snickered without hesitation, "And I'm standing next to one of them. Do specify on what's off now."

"Well," Silver started, "That voice sounded a lot like the Professor's virtual home assistant. But its never been that specific on announcements. Usually it's like 'Someone is at the door, Professor' or 'You've got mail, Professor.'"

"Maybe it got an upgrade?"

"Maybe..." the hedgehog quietly agreed. He let out a small shake of his head before saying, "Let's go get Saga."

With a shrug, Infinite followed Silver to their home and carefully woke up Saga -who, come to find out, was still sleeping off the whiskey Infinite had spiked her coffee with last night. Silver wasn't pleased, but they didn't have have time to argue about it. The trio immediately make their way back to the laboratory finding that they were the only ones left to be there- even Shadow had shown up.

"Good, good! We're all here!" the Professor exclaimed as Silver and Infinite lead Saga to a chair next to Saffron. "Now I can make my announcement!"

Clapping his hands together in an excited manner, the Professor turned to his computer and started to quickly type several commands into the console. It did not take long before something started to appear on the screen; at first it looked faintly Mobian, and as it came further into view, it took on a form that looked a bit like a…  
"It's you!" Saffron suddenly exclaimed when he recognized the figure. The Mobian lynx on the screen gave a small giggle that surprised everyone else, spare for Saffron and the Professor, of course. The avatar was so… animated- it was nearly uncanny. Shadow visibly shuddered.

"You didn't get in trouble for staying up late, did you?" the avatar asked in such a crisp tone of voice that it didn't sound like it came from the speakers, but from a real person standing in the room with the others.

Saffron flinched as he took a side glance at Silver before looking back at the avatar. "Well I am _now_ ," he bitterly declared. It caused the avatar to giggle again.

"Sorry..." it apologized, despite not sounding too upset about it. And while Saffron had assumed Silver would immediately reprimand him, the hedgehog was too busy trying to figure out where he had heard the avatar's voice from before.

"That voice…" he mumbled to himself before turning to the Professor, "It belongs to your home assistant, doesn't it Professor?"

"Aw yes, yes!" the Professor agreed with a happy nod of his head. "This new program, Natural Emulations of Lifeline Alternatives is that very program modified for our purposes! Princess Elise and her country were very accommodating when she promised us the equipment we needed. Now we can track tears even better than before, and we will know exactly who to sent out to ensure our mission is a success!"

"Hey, Natural Emulations," Infinite then teasingly shouted up at the avatar, "Can we call you Nela, or do you prefer N.E.L.A.?"

"There's a difference?" Saga questioned, scrunching her face up in some faint annoyance.

"Acronyms, my dear puss. It's all about the acronyms." he said back- the grin on his face was wide and boyish. The cat scoffed at it as if the gesture offended her.

"Just Nela would be fine." the avatar told them, even bringing up a small graphic on the screen that spelled the name out so everyone was clear on the spelling.

"Right," the Professor interrupted them all with another clap of his hands, "Back to the mission at hand, yes? Nela, show us all possible tear openings and report to us the most likely to close at this given time."

"Of course sir." Nela agreed with a small bow before the avatar blinked off the screen. In its place, several screens popped onto the screen- some of pictures that flashed by too quickly and others simply lines of data that gave coordinates and other things that not everyone could deceiver- before all the data froze to one spot and Nela's avatar appeared again.

"I have located a tear that has an 81.02119% chance of perfect closure, Professor." Nela declared. "To improve these chances of success, Silver and Infinite would be best for this tear." Now looking to the boys she added, "I would recommend bringing something warm, because it'll be quite chilly where you're going."

"Where _are_ we going?" Silver warily asked as if he some how knew the answer already.

Nela's avatar grinned- the kind of grin someone gave you when they were about to be a smart aleck. "Artika of course!" she even bothered to cheerfully tell them. "Good luck!"


End file.
